Beauty and the Beast
by Scotia Daniel
Summary: What story hadn't he told her yet? Sleeping Beauty? No, April had already read that to her. Snow White? He was pretty sure he had read that to her twice. Pinocchio? Oh, no, that scared her last time. Finally, his eyes were drawn to a spine that made him smile sentimentally.


"Come on, Pumpkin, it's time for bed."

"No!" The little girl squirmed in Donatello's arms. The mutant only smiled as he walked into his daughter's room, holding onto the toddler tight enough to where she wouldn't fall but lightly enough so he wouldn't hurt her.

"Please, Maggie?" Magdalene pouted, her hazel eyes sadly frowning up at her father. His daughter was three years old and, as much as she loved to nap and sleep, it was hard to get her properly tucked in every night.

"Ah, I know what will get you to sleep," he said as he sat her down on her yellow bed. "How does a bedtime story, sound?"

The little girl's big eyes grew wider and she grinned, her dark ginger hair falling into her eyes. Donatello walked over to her bookcase and scanned the spines. What story hadn't he told her yet? Sleeping Beauty? No, April had already read that to her. Snow White? He was pretty sure he had read that to her twice. Pinocchio? Oh, no, that scared her last time.

Finally, his eyes were drawn to a spine that made him smile sentimentally. He took the book off of the shelf and gently flipped through it, the look not once leaving his face. His daughter stared up at him, curiously.

"What story tonight, daddy?"

"One of my favorites, princess." He sat down beside her on her bed. Through habit, Maggie crawled onto his lap like she did with her mother or any of her uncles and grandfathers and glanced at the title.

Maggie scrunched up her nose and tried to read the gold cursive that was etched on the front of the book. "T...the...Bee...Beaauu...Beauty and the...Beast. The Beauty and the Beast?" She asked, curiously as she glanced up at her father.

Donatello nodded. "It was my favorite when I was your age..." he murmured. Maggie blinked and watched as her father gently opened the book. He had never acted this way before towards any story he had read to her. She knew this book was special. And she couldn't wait to see what made it her father's favorite.

"Long ago, an old woman went from door to door in a village, asking for a place to stay. She came to a great palace where a prince lived."

"Ooo! A prince! Was he handsome, daddy?"

Donatello chuckled. "Yes, but he was very self centered and arrogant about his looks, wealth, everything. He took for granted his servants and the things others have done for him. So when the old woman knocked on the door asking for a place to stay, he told her to leave immediately. No one was welcome in his home."

"Meanie!"

Donatello threw his head back and laughed. "Yes, he was. And because he was such a meanie bombeanie, the woman revealed she wasn't an old lady, but rather a beautiful enchantress. She told him that, because of his ways, he would suffer alone and as ugly on the outside as he was from the inside. She cast a spell on him and everyone in the castle, causing him to turn into a snarling beast and the others into objects. Only if he could find true love based on how he is would he and the others be turned back to human."

Maggie gasped and snuggled closer to her father. "Is that the end?"

"No, honey, that's not even the beginning. Years later, in the village nearby, lived a beautiful young girl named Belle. Despite her looks, she was considered odd."

"How come?"

"Well, she loved to read. To think for herself. While the other women wanted to chase the men of the village and earn themselves husbands and a future family, Belle wanted to live in a fantasy world. She believed there was much more to life than just being an inventor's daughter. You see, her mother had passed away when she was younger, and she and her father managed by selling inventions he created, for he was a scientist."

"Like mommy and grandpa!"

Donatello smiled softly. "Yes, honey. Like mommy and grandpa. Well, while Belle wanted to go to the bookstore, read, and live life through the characters she read about, a young man had his eye on her. His name was Gaston, and there wasn't a girl that didn't want to be with him."

"Except Belle?"

"Except Belle. She saw his ignorant ways and didn't want anything to do with him. She didn't want to be known as someone's wife, she wanted to be more than that. That she wasn't just a woman to claim as property. So she did the one thing the other girls didn't: she ignored him. One day, her father planned on taking his latest inventions to the next town over to sell them. He had become horribly lost in dark woods no one had ventured into in years. He was chased by wolves as he fled through the woods only to come across a dark castle in the middle of the haunting area. He knocked on the great doors only for the doors to creak open. Not wanting to die, he allowed himself to enter the castle. Finding a torch, he began to explore the place that had saved his life. The castle was cold and deserted, he began to wonder if it had been abandoned years ago."

"Had it? Where are the owners? The king and his queen?"

"Hush, sweetie. I'm getting there. Well, two men who helped run the castle saw how in need he was to be cared for. They never revealed themselves, only sent what he needed to him. Blankets, food, water...however, when the master of the house discovered he had an unwanted guest, he became very angry. He revealed himself to Belle's father. It had been the prince that had been cursed!"

Maggie gasped as her father turned the next page, showing off a beautiful renaissance painting of the beast. The prince had fangs and hair growing all over his body. The only thing that seemed human were his piercing eyes that reeked of emotion.

"The prince locked Belle's father up. When he hadn't come home much time later, Belle decided to discover what had happened to him. She found the castle and began to explore it, just how her father had. She soon found the dungeon where the older man was kept. She tried to free him, only to be stopped by the prince."

"He didn't hurt her, did he, daddy?"

"You'll see, sweetie." He went back to looking at the book. "Belle was frightened, but stayed strong for her father's sake. When the Beast told her he wouldn't let him go for trespassing, Belle begged for her to take her father's place. After much consideration, the Beast let her father go. But instead of keeping her in the dungeon, he let her sleep in a guest room."

Donatello turned the page and there was another painting of a sad Belle sitting on her bed. The room is filled with lavish furniture fit for a queen, but she doesn't look happy about it at all.

"The Beast asked her to dinner, but she refused. The servants reveal themselves to her, and she's surprised to find that they were objects! One was a wardrobe, another was a tea kettle. All of the servants had once been proud and kind people cursed thanks to their selfish master. They served her food behind their master's back, angering the Beast."

"But they just wanted to help!"

"I know, sweetheart. But it's how he is. With time, he was able to open up to her. Be kind enough to where she began to drop her guard. They eventually began to eat with each other, but still with conflicted feelings from Belle. The Beast tried to find something to win Belle's trust over with, but was lost on what he could do. Finally, an idea came to him. One day, he lead her down halls through the castle until they came to two great, big doors. Closing her eyes, the Beast lead her into the room. She opened her eyes to find a massive library with every book imaginable!"

Maggie shifted in his lap. "Ooooo!" Her father turned the page to reveal a picture of the grand library. Large windows let light into the room that streamed over the marble floors and lit up the books and furniture in the library.

"That was when Belle knew she could trust him. She realized that, despite his temper and bad manners, he really did have a heart of gold somewhere deep down in that furry chest of his. He cared about her interests, unlike anyone else who she had encountered in the village. Soon, Belle stopped feeling like a prisoner in the grand palace. She and the Beast spent much time together, skating in the winter, collecting ripening fruits and vegetables in the spring, and welcomed the summer together. But little did she know, her father had run back to the village and told everyone about how his daughter had been kidnapped by a beast. The villagers, including Gaston, laughed him off."

"But Belle isn't a prisoner anymore! Why would he do that?"

"Because he doesn't know that his daughter had had a change of heart. After months of living with the Beast, Belle found herself missing her father. Seeing her sadness but knowing he couldn't let her go, the Beast gave her a magic mirror to see whoever she wanted to see. She, of course, asked to see her father. She saw that he had been searching for the castle, and in return, became cold and ill from wondering the chilly nights alone. She begged the Beast to let her go to help her father, that she would be back once he was better. Reluctantly, he let her go, allowing her to keep the magic mirror. It was then that the Beast had realized he had fallen in love with Belle, that his life was bleak and boring without her. The warmth he had gained from her began to disappear, so sure she would never return."

Maggie waited for her father to continue, but he didn't. She looked up at him and saw the sadness behind his eyes. Seeing her father like that made the little girl uneasy, like she wanted to be sad herself. But that couldn't be the ending. It just couldn't. Finally, Donatello swallowed the lump in his throat and began to read on.

"Belle found her father and brought him back to their home in the village. He was so happy to see her but couldn't figure out how she had managed to escape. She told him her story, and he couldn't believe a monster like him would do that. But from the bottom of her heart, she praised the Beast for how he had treated her and how kind and caring he had become. The villagers noticed she had returned and mocked Belle's father for being afraid of nothing. To prove that the Beast had been real, she took out the mirror and showed the Beast to the villagers. They gasped in horror, and instead of listening to her cries to leave him alone, decided to get rid of the monster once and for all."

Maggie felt her eyes droop, but knew she wanted to keep listening. She had to. Her heart ached for the Beast and her blood boiled at the villagers. How could they be so...cruel? Like how people would be towards her father if they had known of his existence...

"The villagers gathered their pitchforks and torches and marched through the woods towards the castle. They were fast, but Belle was faster. She raced to the castle and warned her friends of the raid that was coming. They prepared, and when the villagers blew the door open, they attacked! Cries filled the air as the cursed castle folk fought strong to protect what had become worth protecting: their master. Belle climbed the stairs, hoping she wasn't too late to find the Beast before Gaston could. As she did, the man in question found the room the Beast was in."

Donatello turned the page to where a painting was of the Beast huddled sadly around a dying rose, the last of the petals nearly falling off. And in the shadows was a big, burly figure. Gaston!

"The Beast huddled close to a rose in a glass container. As it looked like any old rose, it wasn't. The night he and the others had been cursed, the enchantress bestowed the flower to the castle, saying that, if the Beast couldn't find true love until the last petal falls, they would all perish. Gaston stepped out from the shadows, and they began to fight. However, the Beast fought weakly. He wasn't aware that Belle was in the castle, looking for him, wanting to protect him. The Beast gave up the fight, letting Gaston beat him around the edge of the castle as it poured down rain. Belle found the scene and cried out to the Beast. Right when the Beast thought he had won, he turned to Belle, happy and in disbelief that she had come back to him. Gaston crawled back and stabbed the Beast in the back. Once, twice, three times before the Beast pushed him off of the ledge where Gaston fell to his death."

Maggie rubbed at her face and found her hands were wet. She had begun to cry somewhere through the story. But where? She looked up to find her father had started crying as well.

"The Beast fell to the stone of the castle as Belle gathered him up in her arms. The last of the petals began to fall. As he began to die in her arms, she cried and confessed that she had fallen deeply in love with him. She didn't care if he was a man or beast, he was human in her eyes. The last petal fell, and she sobbed into his fur, so sure she had lost him. A light began to glow from the Beast and his monster like features began to disappear. Where there had been fur now contained human flesh. The tusks shrunk down behind human lips and Belle stared down at the man the prince had once been. The prince blinked awake and gazed up at Belle, now in his human form. He sat up, and met Belle's eyes. When she realized it was the beast she had fallen in love with, they kissed."

"Eww!" Maggie grinned, sticking her tongue out, giggling. Donnie grinned as well, his smile matching his daughter's. He couldn't help but laugh a little at the little girl's reaction.

"The kingdom became happy once more, where everyone was turned back into a human. The prince and Belle wedded and lived happily ever after with the love both of them had been longing for. The end."

Donatello closed the book. Maggie looked up and saw that tears were in his eyes. He sat her in her bed and tucked her in, and kissed the top of her head. He turned and returned the book back to its shelf.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, princess?"

"Why is that book your favorite?"

Donnie stood at the shelf, staring at the spines. His eyes stayed on The Beauty and the Beast, the tears still in his eyes. A smile tugs at his lips and he turned to look at his daughter.

"When I was your age, I was so sure that no girl could fall in love with something like me. And when I met your mother, I had hope that, if Belle could fall for the Beast, so could your mother." He stopped, looked into think air, lost in thought. He smiled wider and looked at his daughter. "And she did. Goodnight, utsukushii. Sleep well."

Donatello flipped the switch, leaving the room dark. He closed the door, leaving Maggie to sit up in her bed and contemplate the story. She laid down in her bed, imagining the scene of when Belle finally realized she had loved the Beast as well. She imagined how that must have been like for her mother, and what had been the turning point for her to see the prince behind her father's mutant curse.

Magdalene smiled at nothing in particular and curled up on her stomach with the stuffed turtle her grandfather had given her when she was a baby. She gently wiggled her total of eight fingers, the mutant gene she had inherited from her father and sighed. It made her happy that there were people out there that could fall for the beasts of the world, realizing that the true monsters were the gorgeous but cold hearted men like Gaston. She began to drift off, dreaming of her own prince and castle that she would one day have. With that, she drifted off to sleep.

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**Comments to Reviews:**

**Guest: Thank you! I didn't either until I found a tumblr head cannon post about it and knew it fit them perfectly.**

**DarkSummerBrightWinter92: Thank you! :)**

**diaryofhannah: Awww thank you so very much! It means a lot knowing my fics can do that to people!**

**BubblyShell22 and zebralily999: Thank you. :) I feel like the show could go deeper into Don's feelings for April than just a puppy love crush. I feel like he could relate a lot to Beauty and the Beast.**

**Yigtero: Interesting suggestion! I'll see what I can do. Thank you! :)**

**CrazyGeekyLove: Awww thank you! On my deviantArt account, I do quite a bit with Maggie and her cousin Miwa. :) I'd love to see more people do pictures of Dad!Donnie. He'd be a great father. Awww I'm glad I could be an inspiration! I'll read your stories! Thank you for reading! :)**


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